Quote from: Luis_Gray on July 30, 2018, 12:04:04 PM

Quote from: Spendulus on July 27, 2018, 09:09:55 PM

Quote from: electricblueeyes on February 01, 2018, 01:33:05 PM

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Do you own an electric car or are considering buying one ? What are your reasons for buying it ?

I took a mountain bike and added an electric power to it. It works very well, has about 40 km range and will go 35 kph (faster than would be wise)

It is certainly practical for in town trips like going to work, weather and traffic permitting.

It was also not that expensive, something like $800 US for 1000 watt motor and 14Ah battery (If I recall correctly). There are many cheaper ones such as 250 watt motor but these are considered "pedal assist." Also in many places law limits bikes to 250 watts, to go higher you need a different registration.

Very interesting project. It led me to be less enthusiastic about the cars, though. It takes quite a bit of expensive batteries to move people around!

What a great option! I guess it must make the bicycle a lot heavier. Is it still practical to use it as a regular bicycle with using the motor? It's definitely a lot cheaper than buying a car, but I guess there are some mopeds you could get for that price. I'm sure they wouldn't be electric though, so it wouldn't satisfy that curiosity.

The bike weight is increased by 20 lb, and since it is a 15 speed mountain bike, there is no problem with pedaling and not using the motor. I simply replaced the front wheel with one that had an electric motor built in. The pedals and gear train the the rear wheel are not affected.

If you wanted just 20 km range instead of 40 km range, you could half the size and cost and weight of the battery pack.